After 60 years of independence, an appraisal of Nigeria’s defence policy and hegemony in West African sub-region has become imperative. In her more than half a century as an independent nation, Nigeria’s leaders have consistently designed and fashioned foreign policy using her armed forces among other instruments to achieve international, regional and sub-regional peace and security. The stability of the West African sub-region requires among other factors, a single dominant state to articulate and enforce the rules of interaction among the members of the state.